1. Field
This invention relates to industrial scale uniform distribution and collection devices. It is particularly directed to liquid transfer manifold systems for use in columns or cells constituting a portion of a separator system, such as those involving chromatographic separation, ion exclusion, or ion exchange, specifically including simulated moving beds and adsorber-desorber systems.
2. State of the Art
Performance design criteria have evolved in connection with large-scale separators (those with columns or cells having diameters of two feet and larger) as follows:
(1) There must be uniform distribution of the liquid phase across the surface of the solid phase media. PA1 (2) The collection system must be conducive to plug flow of the liquid phase through the solid phase media. PA1 (3) The composition of fluid flowing through most separation systems alternates between two or more liquid phases. Usually, the feed stock and the eluate phases are present, and often an extract, raffinate or other phases are also present. The distribution ad collection systems should maintain a well-defined interface between the various liquid phases flowing through the system. Once a separation of components occurs, the resulting discrete phases should be kept separate by maintaining plug flow characteristics. "Plug flow" implies that respective liquid interfaces of a phase plug reach, respectively, and approximately simultaneously, the distributor closest to an inlet and an outlet remote from that inlet. The same principle applies to the collection system. PA1 (4) To maintain phase separation between liquid phases, it is desirable to minimize the void between a distributor (or collector) and the surface of the solid phase, thereby reducing the opportunity for backmixing. Any orifice or nozzle system functioning as a distributor and/or a collector should be in contact with, or at least in near proximity to, the surface of the solid phase media at all times. Structure associated with these elements should desirably provide a barrier against which the solid media can be packed.
Various separator systems of the type contemplated by this invention are disclosed by U.S Pat. Nos. 2,985,599; 4,001,133; 4,182,633 and 4,412,866, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference for their teachings concerning the operation and control of separator systems generally and for their illustration of various structures and mechanisms relied upon in the separation art for distributing liquids to an interface or collecting liquids from an interface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,866 is generally instructive, and FIG. 2 of that patent discloses representative distributor and collector devices improved upon by this invention.
As used herein and in the appended claims: The term "separator system" is intended to designate the apparatus of any unit operation, including those specifically identified by this disclosure, in which liquid is either introduced to or withdrawn from a cell at a zone approximately transverse the direction of flow through a cell. The term "cell" is intended to include the terms "vessel" and "column," as well as any other structure utilized by practitioners of the separation arts, to effect a separation and/or extraction of components from an admixture by bringing the admixture into contact with solid or liquid exchange media. "Cross-sectional zone" (or region) refers to a region within a cell bounded by cross sections of the cell oriented transverse (typically approximately normal) the longitudinal direction of flow through the cell. "Longitudinal direction of flow" refers to the direction of fluid flow from an inlet towards an outlet within a cell. "Longitudinal" is used consistently to designate the dominant flow path of fluid through a cell without regard to direction. "Hydraulically identical," as applied to conduits, plenums and the like, means that the elements compared react to pressure differentials in a fluid circuit as though they were structurally identical. "Distributor" (or "distribution system") refers to structure through which fluids are introduced to a cell and "collector"or ("collection system") refers to structure used to withdraw fluids from a cell, in each instance from a cross-sectional zone. The term "plenum" is defined in this application as a fluid flow device which receives fluid from a single inlet conduit and discharges the fluid into a plurality of outlet conduits, or receives fluid from a plurality of inlet conduits and discharges it into a single outlet conduit.